ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports the Falcons will bring in former Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich for a physical and may sign him as early as Tuesday. The potential move might have been foreshadowed when Bobby Petrino told the media on Monday that he believes current starter Joey Harrington is lacking confidence in his offense.
Harrington is what he is at this point. He’s got career backup written all over him and there’s a big reason why Detroit and Miami parted ways. The Falcons offensive line has taken a ton of heat for giving up 13 sacks the past two weeks, but Harrington shoulders much of the blame by not getting the ball out of his hands or scrambling to buy more time. He seemed gun shy Sunday in Jacksonville after throwing two picks in Minnesota last week and forget about him putting a winning drive together late in the fourth quarter.
As far as Leftwich is concerned, even if he did sign Tuesday, he wouldn’t be able to start for another three to four weeks. It’s not realistic to think that he’s going to pick up Petrino’s offense quickly and the guy has never been in great shape. If Atlanta is serious about Leftwich and he passes his physical, they should sign him immediately, scale back the offense so he can learn the basics, get him in shape and ready to go Week 9 coming off the BYE week. Can he be a savior? Probably not, but he’s no worse than Harrington, Chris Redmon or Casey Bramlet.
